Wireless health monitoring devices and methods of managing energy consumption of such devices

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to wireless health monitoring devices adapted for intermittent data transmission with controlled energy consumption as well as methods of managing energy consumption by a wireless health monitoring device. As described herein, the devices and methods eliminate the need for an intermediating electronic device, enable direct uploading of health-related data to a back-end device, improve useability of the wireless health monitoring device, reduce costs associated with the wireless health monitoring device, increase the efficiency of data transmission from the health monitoring device, and improve the lifespan of the device's energy source. The devices and methods of the present disclosure find particular application in clinical, out-of-hospital patient monitoring, although other applications are contemplated.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A wireless health monitoring device adapted for intermittent data transmission with controlled energy consumption, the device comprising:
 a data module configured to generate and/or collect health-related data associated with at least one user over a period of time;   a communication unit operatively connected to the data module, the communication unit being configured to wirelessly transmit health-related data over a network to a remote destination;   a constrained energy source operatively connected to the data module and the communication unit for storing and providing electrical energy thereto;   a controller operatively connected to the data module, the constrained energy source, and the communication unit, wherein the controller comprises a memory storing machine readable instructions and one or more processors that, when executing the machine-readable instructions, are configured to perform a pre-transmission assessment operation comprising one or more of the following:
 i. determine whether a data package comprising the health-related data is ready to be transmitted from the device; 
 ii. determine an amount of energy available for the transmission of the data package within the constrained energy source; 
 iii. extract one or more network parameters having predictive value related to energy consumption by the device based on current network conditions; and 
 iv. determine whether to proceed with the transmission of the data package based on the amount of energy available for the transmission and the one or more network parameters. 
   
     
     
         2 . The wireless health monitoring device of  claim 1 , wherein the data module comprises a physiological sensor associated with the user and wherein the health-related data comprises physiological sensor data collected by the physiological sensor. 
     
     
         3 . The wireless health monitoring device of  claim 2 , wherein the physiological sensor comprises an electrocardiography sensor configured to be worn by the user. 
     
     
         4 . The health monitoring device of  claim 1 , wherein the constrained energy source comprises a battery. 
     
     
         5 . The health monitoring device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to wirelessly transmit the data package from the device via the communication unit over the network or to delay the transmission based on an outcome of the pre-transmission assessment operation. 
     
     
         6 . The health monitoring device of  claim 5 , wherein the pre-transmission assessment operation further comprises predicting an amount of energy necessary for the transmission of the data package based on the one or more network parameters; and wherein an outcome of the pre-transmission assessment operation comprises generating instructions to the one of more processors to proceed with the transmission of the data package when the predicted amount of energy is less than or equal to an energy threshold, or to delay the transmission of the data package when the predicted amount of energy exceeds the energy threshold,
 wherein the energy threshold is based at least in part on the amount of energy available for the transmission of the data package within the constrained energy source.   
     
     
         7 . The health monitoring device of  claim 6 , wherein the energy threshold is further based at least in part on an acuity level of the health-related data in the data package. 
     
     
         8 . The health monitoring device of  claim 6 , wherein the amount of energy necessary for the transmission of the data package is predicted based on the one or more network parameters using a trained machine learning model, the trained machine learning model comprising one or more of a support vector machine, a decision tree, a gradient boosted decision tree, a bagged tree, a logistic regression, and a neural network. 
     
     
         9 . The health monitoring device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to extract the one or more network parameters having predictive value related to energy consumption by the device based on current network conditions by:
 connecting the health monitoring device to the wireless network via the communication unit; and   determining the one or more parameters based on the network conditions detected after connecting the health monitoring device to the wireless network;   wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more of a signal strength, a signal quality, a duration of the connecting step, and an amount of energy consumed by the device during the connecting step.   
     
     
         10 . The health monitoring device of  claim 1 , wherein the transmission readiness determination for the data package comprising the health-related data is based on one or more predetermined conditions, and the one or more processors are further configured to activate the communication unit and initiate the pre-transmission assessment operation when the one or more predetermined conditions are met. 
     
     
         11 . A method of managing energy consumption by a wireless health monitoring device adapted for intermittent data transmission and comprising a data module, a controller having a memory and one or more processors, a communication unit, and a constrained energy source, the method comprising:
 determining, via the one or more processors of the controller, an amount of energy available from the energy source for transmission of a data package comprising health-related data;   extracting, via the communication unit and the one or more processors of the controller, one or more network parameters having predictive value related to energy consumption by the device based on current network conditions;   analyzing, via the one or more processors of the controller, the one or more network parameters to predict an amount of energy needed for the transmission of the data package using a trained machine learning model;   determine whether to proceed with the transmission of the data package; and   generating instructions to the one or more processors to proceed with the transmission of the data package when the predicted amount of energy is less than or equal to an energy threshold, or to postpone the transmission of the data package when the predicted amount of energy exceeds the energy threshold,   wherein the energy threshold is based at least in part on the amount of energy available for the transmission of the data package within the constrained energy source.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising wirelessly transmitting the data package to a remote destination, or delaying the transmission of the data package by at least a first wait time. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , the trained machine learning model comprises one or more of a support vector machine, a decision tree, a gradient boosted decision tree, a bagged tree, a logistic regression, and a neural network. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the step of extracting the one or more network parameters having predictive value related to energy consumption by the device based on current network conditions comprises:
 connecting the health monitoring device to a wireless network via the communication unit; and   determining the one or more parameters based on the network conditions detected after connecting the health monitoring device to the wireless network;   wherein the one or more parameters comprise one or more of a signal strength, a signal quality, a duration of the connecting step, and an amount of energy consumed by the device during the connecting step.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the step of determining the one or more parameters comprises transmitting a portion of the data package via the wireless network and detecting the network conditions during said transmission.